Names of China

The word "China"[nb 1] is derived from Cin (چین), a Persian name for China popularized in Europe by Marco Polo.[12][13] In early usage, "china" as a term for porcelain was spelled differently from the name of the country, the two words being derived from separate Persian words.[14] Both these words are derived from the Sanskrit word Cīna (चीन),[14] used as a name for China as early as AD 150.[15] The origin of this word is the subject of several conflicting scholarly theories.[16] The traditional theory, proposed in the 17th century by Martin Martini, is that the word is derived from "Qin" (秦 =Chin)(778 BC – 207 BC), the westernmost of the Chinese kingdoms during the Zhou dynasty, or from the succeeding Qin dynasty (221 – 206 BC).[17] In the Hindu scriptures Mahābhārata (5th century BC )[18] and Laws of Manu (2nd century BC), the Sanskrit word Cīna (चीन) is used to refer to a country of "yellow-colored" barbarians located in the Tibeto-Burman borderlands east of India.[19] The inhabitants of Yelang, an ancient kingdom in what is now Guizhou, referred to themselves as 'Zina', and may be the source of the Sanskrit word Cīna

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